It’s the best Saturday of the season for in-person viewing of NCAA tournament-bound teams. Unfortunately, junkies can’t catch ’em both.

Gonzaga, a potential No. 1 seed, makes its annual visit to Saint Mary’s while San Diego State, the best team in the Mountain West and a possible No. 7-8 seed, plays San Jose State. Both games are at 7 p.m., unfortunately.

But if you’re so inclined, it’s possible to see Cal-Stanford at 3:30 and then catch either the Zags or the Aztecs.

I expect the Cal-Stanford and Gonzaga-SMC rematches to be closer than the first meetings, but with the same end result:

* The Gaels will hold up for 37-38 minutes before Gonzaga’s frontline takes control in the final possessions. (Wiltjer, Karnowski and Sabonis were 13 of 19 from the field in the first game.)

* Cal will show better than it did against Stanford in Haas (10-point loss), but the reeling Cardinal has too much at stake to lose at home … or so you’d think.

* Oh, and San Jose State and SDSU won’t be close, just in case you were wondering.

Now that football is over (mostly) and conference play has kicked in, here’s the first installment of the local rankings.

The exercise is intended to be more than a ranking of six teams — that’s just the vehicle.

At heart, it’s a forum for assessment and comment on the Bay Area men’s teams that will appear weekly on the Hotline through the league tourneys. (I’m aiming for Wednesday publication, but don’t hold me to that.)

Thus far, it has been a largely uninspiring season on the hoops front: A handful of horrific losses and only one team in serious at-large contention (Stanford), with two currently off the bubble but hoping to scramble back on (Saint Mary’s and Cal).

In my view, it’s futile for both the Bears and the Gaels — they have too far to climb and too little margin for error. But hey, maybe that’s just me being cynical.

Was swamped with National Signing Day assignments last week, which makes this the first local rankings since Jan. 29.

How things have changed.

Okay, maybe the situation isn’t dramatically different than it was a fortnight ago, but both Stanford and Cal have experienced notable upticks.

In fact, the Bears and Cardinal have become, in some respects, mirror images:

Both beat then-league leader Oregon, both managed surprising splits in the desert, both have RPIs in the high 50s, both are 6-5 in league play, both have nine overall losses … and both need to get hot and stay hot in order to have a chance of sneaking into the NCAA tournament.

Cal’s win at Arizona was nothing short of stunning, especially in the way the Bears took control early in the second half and never wilted.

Allen Crabbe was better than he’s ever been and, given the opponent and location, as good as any Pac-12 player has been all season.